Reviews from

The Ballad of Fanny and Stella

The two men who lived as ladies that rocked London Society

40 total reviews 
Comment from DR DIP
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

Woe what a write I had heard og these Guy/ gals before ad your authors note a thorough and descriptive Thanks for sharing your write

dip

 Comment Written 04-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 04-Jan-2017
    Thankyou so much for reading it!kindest regards, Meia :)
Comment from dejohnsrld (Debbie)
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

This is very well written and the use of rhyme, both internal and end-rhyme really adds to it. What a story--one I had not heard before. Well done, my friend~Debbie

 Comment Written 04-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 04-Jan-2017
    Thanks so much for your awesome and kind review meia :)
Comment from randman58
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

Very entertaining piece. Well written sonnet I would say. The story behind the poem is also interesting. I remember reading something about these gents/gentiles years ago. Victorian England was a screwy place. Open homosexuality was a serious crime yet sodomy was widely practiced, especially by the upper classes. Very well written, humorous and rye. Well done.

 Comment Written 03-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 04-Jan-2017
    Thanks so much for your awesome and kind review,really glad you enjoyed the piece, meia :)
Comment from robyn corum
Excellent
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Meia,

This was quite entertaining and remarkable. Thanks for sharing the story. I was entranced! But I don't understand what 'bearded' meant in the Author Notes. Can you enlighten me? *smile*

 Comment Written 03-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Thank-you so much for your review. The term 'Beard' refers to a woman used as a means of disguising her husbands homosexual behaviours. In slang the term can be' Fag-Hag'. Beard is a slang term (used since around 1850s) describing a person who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date, romantic partner (boyfriend or girlfriend), or spouse either to conceal infidelity or to conceal one's sexual orientation. The American slang term originally referred to anyone who acted on behalf of another, in any transaction, to conceal a person's true identity. The term can be used in heterosexual and homosexual contexts, but is especially used within LGBT culture.Hope this helps :) For an example-Oscar Wilde-his wife was his beard, poor Constance. Kind regards, Meia.
reply by robyn corum on 03-Jan-2017
    aha! Thanks!
Comment from Badger_29
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

Wow, your ability to take a real controversial and emotionally charged storyline and put it to a ballad like tale of prose, I found nothing short of miraculous. I caught til I cried. The images! The meter and rhyme are serendipitously perfect. This definitely deserves six. The problem is that I have read such outstanding writing here that it is hard to distribute them carefully.
What is so well thought out and written about this is that it is not only entertaining, but quite informative, thus not only teaching history, but raising public awareness.
The information in your writer's notes is vastly educational and interesting.
You managed not only to tittilate the reader, but fill them with either disgust or admiration, and I was aghast at the bigotry!
Thoroughly enjoyable, thanks SO much for sharing!
Brother Badger

 Comment Written 03-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Your kind review has truly made my day!Some complaints that it is too long will be ignored as I feel it is a historical vaudeville piece. Thank-you a million for your amazing review!Meia :)
reply by Badger_29 on 03-Jan-2017
    You made My day. While I am not a TV, a lot of my friends are. I am THEIR back-door man . .
Comment from Pantygynt
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

I have to admire the depth of your research into this subject. Your notes put the the whole business into its historical perspective. I read the the poem several times, aloud on each occasion, to try to get the performance feel of the piece because at times it had the feel of a music hall act.

I kept getting hung up on the breaks in the metre and began to feel that it should have beem metrically more regular, though deep down inside I was sure (from having read other stuff of yours recently) that you knew what you were about. A piece of this length can benefit from breaks in the nursery rhyme regularity of any one metre and, after the third reading, I felt I had the measure of the piece as a bit of vaudeville.

So, happy that I could perform it in public and make it work, I then decided that it really was an exceptional piece of poetry. Very well done indeed.

 Comment Written 03-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Wow, thank-you for your deep and insightful reviews. You write them very well. You review very thoroughly.
    My rhyming is of course, spotty, it is as you stated 'Vaudeville' and for that reason I have a little poetic licence. Thankyou again for your awesome insights. Kindest regards, Meia :)
Comment from Ogden
Excellent
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You are a naughty girl!
You obviously also are a talented writer.
I ask you in advance, please forgive my candor.
Your topic is excellent (and timely), as well as your research, and your approach exceptionally creative. However, although some of your stanzas are inspired, several others are redundant and expendable, making the poem seem to go on too long, and others, in my judgement, are just not up to snuff. I believe, with some earnest abridging, your efforts easily would be deserving of a sixth star.

Don't you hate when reviewers bloviate?

Happy New Year, Meia!

Don




 Comment Written 03-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Wow, thank-you for your insightful review. You write them very well. You review very thoroughly.
    My rhyming is of course, spotty, it is in style rather, 'Vaudeville' and for that reason I have a little poetic licence.I mean to keep the length, thank-you for your suggestions, I do not mind losing readers I prefer those who want to keep on reading! That's why I do much 'research'. Thankyou again for your awesome insights. Kindest regards, Meia :)
reply by Ogden on 03-Jan-2017
    You're welcome, Meia. Actually, I do like to keep on reading, and I like your rhyming a lot. It reminds me of my own. If you ever happen to read my stuff, you'll know what I mean. (I have no idea as to what "Vaudeville" rhymes are.)
    :o) Don
Comment from Heather Knight
Excellent
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This is a most interesting poem and I love the author's notes as well. I had never heard of these men, but I love Little Britain. I had never thought there was a real story behind the 'I am a Lady!'
Thanks for sharing.

 Comment Written 03-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Thank-you so much. I know for a fact that the Little Britain team based their characters Emily and Florence on Fanny and Stella :) That's one of the reasons it fascinated me thanks so much for the kind review.meia :)
Comment from ciliverde
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

I have to give this a six, just for the length, not to mention the well-done telling of a really amazing story! It is all very interesting, and you have done a fantastic job with it. Your notes were amazing as well - lots that I didn't know there. Hmmm, those Etonians were not quite as refined as they might have had us believe! I like this a lot, and I'll look for more of your work. A story in a poem is a wonderful thing,
Carol

 Comment Written 02-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Thankyou so much for your very kind review!kind regards meia x
Comment from Gypsy Blue Rose
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

Hello, sweetie pie,

I like your fun and informative poem about the sexual behaviors in the Victorian Age. I think the first was about boy prostitutes and the second one about Fanny and Stella, the crossdressers.

Awesome!

 Comment Written 02-Jan-2017


reply by the author on 03-Jan-2017
    Thankyou so much for your very kind review!kind regards meia xx